More Than a Rock

3Art and Philosophy

There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.

—Henry David Thoreau

Someone recently referred to me as a philosopher. Despite knowing that my own approach to philosophy is quite different from that of professional philosophers today, I admit this pleased me very much. In the words of philosopher Scott Soames, “Philosophy has become a highly organized ...